


Monochromatic

by SpyroForLife



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Human Bill Cipher, M/M, One-Shot, Sad Ending, Soulmates, monochrome au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 06:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5447378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpyroForLife/pseuds/SpyroForLife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine a world where everything was black and white until you met your soulmate, and only then you finally get to see the beautiful colors of the world around you. Now imagine that one day, while you're simply out running errands... suddenly everything returns to black and white.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monochromatic

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a post by Tumblr user radiantchemicals. http://radiantchemicals.tumblr.com/post/127969941360/billdip  
> I meant to post this a long time ago but I forgot. Apologies.

Dipper Pines never really understood what people meant when they talked about the colors changing. His parents talked about it all the time, the sudden new beauty the world took on when you found that special someone that completed you. He couldn’t imagine things looking any different than they already did. He could tell the difference between red and orange. Between blue and purple. They were different hues, different shades. But no, older folks told him. He’ll understand one day. They claimed he was merely seeing in shades of gray, and it would all change when he met his soul mate.

Sure, gray did look pretty similar to the other colors. He could admit that. But imagining entirely new hues? He simply couldn’t do it. So he found himself looking forward to meeting his soul mate, just so he could see what everyone was talking about.

He would never forget the day his sister found her person. The girl had returned home screaming, grabbing her various family members and shaking them and shouting, “Her eyes are _blue_ and her hair is soft and yellow and oh my God, everything is so bright now! I understand, Mom, Dad, I understand!” And she swung to grab Dipper, shaking him. “This is gonna blow your mind when it happens to you!” Her grin was big and there were tears in her eyes, and Dipper was happy for her despite his confusion. So things really did change somehow.

Mabel’s passion for painting had grown after that day, and she talked constantly of colors, telling Dipper that she couldn’t wait until he could see like she could. Maybe it would help his terrible fashion sense, she quipped.

And so Dipper went tentatively into adulthood, wondering when he would meet his soul mate. There were times when he thought he had found them, when he would look at someone and his vision would flash, everything brightening, before fading. Simple crushes. Not good enough, apparently.

One day, as he was taking a walk, he noticed with distaste that he had chosen a bad time of day. The sidewalks were crowded and the streets were bumper to bumper traffic. He sped up, wanting to get away from this busy area. His eyes scanned without interest over the people he passed, and as his gaze met that of a passing man with brown eyes and dark skin, it happened.

His vision exploded with color. More hues than he ever conceived of, some bright and some pale and some deep, and he jerked in surprise, stumbling out of the crowd and taking a knee as he tried to catch his breath.

“Hey, kid, are you okay?” a voice asked nearby.

He lifted his head to see the man he had locked eyes with. His heart leapt up into his throat. Those eyes weren’t just brown. They were a deep honey shade that seemed almost gold, and Dipper swallowed as he took in the different colors he was now aware of. The man’s hair was blonde. It was darker near the roots, so he assumed it was dyed.

“I… I’m sorry, I just…” Dipper took the hand that the other offered to him, slowly standing up. He stared at him, and could tell that the other was staring at him too. “The colors changed,” he whispered.

The stranger’s eyes widened. Everyone knew that phrase, grew up waiting to say it, to hear it. Looking amazed, he replied, “Yours too?”

Realizing he was still holding the other’s hand, Dipper let go of it, blushing as he fumbled for something to say. “Wow, I… I didn’t know it would be so intense, everything is so… so different, I guess… wow, everything did look gray. Before.”

“Yeah. Um… Well, I know what this means.” The man smiled at him, extending his hand. “I’m Bill Cipher, nice to meet you.”

Dipper took his hand. “Dipper Pines.”

“So, since I guess we’re each other’s soul mates… wanna go get a coffee or something?”

Dipper smiled at how energetic and cheerful Bill was, finding that he liked him already. “Sure. I know a pretty good place down the road.”

“Well, lead the way!”

They talked all the way to the coffee shop, and even when they were inside and had their coffees, they barely drank them, too caught up in getting to know each other and admiring the new colorful world around them.

Though Bill was cocky and loud, Dipper didn’t mind so much. He found it endearing, and it wasn’t long before he and the eccentric man were constantly meeting up and going out on dates.

And it didn’t really come as a surprise when several months later, Bill got down on one knee, thanked Dipper for the light he has brought into his life, and asked him to marry him. And through tears, Dipper had said yes.

Three years later and things were great. Their worlds were still full of color, and they had almost forgotten what it was like before they met each other. They would look at pictures that were intentionally grey shaded, and reflect on how that used to be all they knew. They were glad they had met each other.

They lived in a small town full of mystery, known as Gravity Falls. A place Dipper had visited frequently with his sister growing up, now his permanent home. Bill had fallen in love with it immediately, and was always joining him on adventures through the woods outside their home. There was always something new to find out there.

And that was why Bill was trying to get through today’s grocery shopping as quickly as he could. He knew Dipper was wanting to go on a hike today, may have already wandered off into the forest, and wanted to get back home to join him.

He was picking up a box of macaroni when everything went gray.

Bill gasped, backpedaling and falling onto the floor in his surprise. He rolled over, looking frantically around at the products on the shelves. The color was gone. All of it. He could only see in monochrome. Just like before. Wait…

“Dipper!” he cried as he scrambled up. Leaving the full cart of groceries behind, he sprinted out of the store. He tried to call the younger man on his cell phone but there was no answer. Panicking, he dove into the car and drove home as fast as he could. He was lucky he didn’t get pulled over by the police, as he was speeding the entire time. He didn’t even bother to turn off the car before jumping out and running into the house. He called his husband’s name as he tore through the rooms, heart pounding and eyes wide as he still couldn’t see any of the color he could just this morning.

Dipper wasn’t in the house. Bill ran back outside, screaming for the other, and headed into the forest. He took their usual trail, and noticed snapped tree branches leading off the path. He turned to follow them, and finally saw color in the distance. As he got closer, his heart sank; it was mostly red. Blood red.

“Dipper!” he shouted as he reached the man curled up in the grass, shaking, clothes torn to shreds and deep, bleeding gashes all over his body.

“B-Bill?” Dipper coughed weakly.

“Oh no, no… what happened?” Bill whispered, blinking as tears welled up in his eyes. He stared down at the other, running unsteady fingers through his hair. He could see Dipper’s colors. The brown of his hair, the tan of his skin, blue shirt and gray shorts. And all of the red of the blood pooling underneath him.

“I… I heard something, I thought it was a bird, and… walked out here… and a gryphon chased me.”

“A gryphon?”

“Yeah. Half eagle, half… half lion. It… it didn’t want to eat me I guess… when I stopped fighting, it just left.”

Bill sniffed, finally realizing he was crying when some of his tears dripped onto the other’s skin. “You’re going to be okay, I’m… I’m going to call 911.” He took his phone out and dialed the numbers, but the call didn’t go through. He shook it with frustration as he saw that it didn’t have a signal. “No! Work, damn it! Work!”

Dipper reached up to take his wrist. “Hey, it’s okay.” He tried to grin. “At least you weren’t here, or we’d both be dying.”

“Don’t say that, you are not dying.”

“Bill… my colors changed.”

Bill dropped the phone and leaned down to pull the other into a desperate hug. “No, you’re going to be fine,” he insisted.

“You’re the only color I see. Everything else… it’s just black and white. Just like before. Did… did it happen to you?”

“Yes,” Bill admitted, chest clenching. Tears were streaming down his cheeks now, and it was taking all of his will not to just break down sobbing.

“I guess… I guess that means this is it. For me…”

“Dipper, please… I can’t be left in this gray world again… not after seeing it so bright for so long…”

Dipper stroked his cheek. His breathing was slowing, sounding more labored. Yet despite the incredible pain he must be feeling, he was still smiling. “It’ll be okay. You’ll see color again one day. Just… not with me.”

“But I don’t want it to be with anyone except you!” Bill cried.

Dipper’s smile dropped, betraying his pain and sadness for a few moments. Then his breathing hitched and his eyes closed, before going limp in Bill’s arms.

The older man held him close and sobbed as everything faded. The last color he saw before everything returned to gray was the bright red of the other’s blood as it began to flow onto his arms.


End file.
